12 of 14Milli, left, and Frank Ricciardelli, with the Best of Show award.

Photo by Roger Hart

13 of 14Sometimes, the back end of a car is more elegant than the front. !963 split-window Corvette, right, and the 1938 Graber-bodied Jaguar SS Coupe.

Photo by Roger Hart

14 of 14A row of 1950s-ear Ford Thunderbirds, in colors that would make the Easter Bunny happy.

Photo by Roger Hart

Frank and Milli Ricciardelli, from Monmouth Beach, NJ, came to the 11th annual Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival and Concours d'Elegance as the event's honored collectors, with the organizers honoring them for their years of dedication to the collector car hobby. The Ricciardellis have long supported the concours, which has seen significant growth through the years, both in attendance and in the quality, and volume, of cars on the show field.

On Sunday, the Ricciardelli's 1938 Graber-bodied Jaguar ss Coupe was named Best in Show at the concours.

Frank said he bought the car “sight unseen” from a London auction two years ago. “I knew when I bought the car that previous owner had RM Restorations restore the car in 1994. So after I bought it, I sent the car back to RM to be refreshed. And that's what we have today,” he said.

The car's first show was at the Amelia Island concours earlier this year, where it won a class award. The car also won an award in Indianapolis prior to it coming to Hilton Head.

After being presented with the award, one of dozens the Ricciardellis have won, Frank said, “It never gets old holding onto a trophy like this.”

This year's honored marque was the Ford Model T and former GM vice president Bob Lutz was the honorary chairman. In all, more than 200 vehicles were on the show field at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn. In all, the nine-day motoring festival drew more than 15,000 visitors.